Is Your Light Greener Than Mine?

{photo from flickr by johnmarchan}

It's been on my mind lately.

And about a week or so ago, it all came together in one single sentence...

Is your light somehow greener than my light?

Because my light's green, too, and to me that means I can go. It's my turn.

Now, I know your light is green, too, and I know you can go, too, but does that give you the right to be mean? To be rude? To take my turn away? To purport that your turn is somehow more important than mine? To imply that your green light is somehow brighter than my green light?

I am trying to move here. To travel. To pursue. To journey on. To forge ahead. To hammer out. To follow through. To seek it.

This really bothers me.

And not a whole lot really bothers me. Seriously. I am pretty easy going most of the time, I'm pretty laid back most of the time. It can take a bit to get me riled up. A blatant injustice to get me going.

And then it physically happened.

I was at a traffic light with my left directional on. And the light turned green for me and for those coming in the opposite direction, where the person in the oncoming direction was taking a right. She was in her lane going right, I was in mine, going left. Two lanes, two green lights, two cars, two people taking two turns. I stayed in my lane, and she stayed in hers and everything would have proceeded normally. No problem. Except... the woman in the oncoming car FREAKED OUT!! Started beeping, honking, giving me the finger, flipping out, yelling, shaking her fist at me.

Whoa... nothing happened. I wasn't encroaching on her space, nor her on mine. Why the meltdown?

And that's when it hit me... was her light actually greener than mine? Why did she feel entitled to be the only one allowed to continue on?

And it all came together in my head when I read Margot's post, Life is a Test. Here's a small blurb by Margot from her blog, The Impatient Blogger...

"What sort of a person takes time out of their day to leave a crappy comment on a blog or a video or a mean review on a book page? What sort of person writes negative things about people they don't even know? Well, I'll tell you what sort of a person does that. The sort of person who takes great pleasure in making sure everyone around them is as miserable as they are. The sort of person who sees the glass as having a huge leak in it and is convinced that there will never, ever be enough. Enough love. Enough joy. Enough success. Therefore they want to make sure everyone else is perfectly clear on that point."

You see, these people care. You must understand that if they did not, they would be far, far away either making life a better place to be, or doing the same thing to another group they desperately want to be a part of.

And Margot really says it best when she states:

"It's easy to have compassion for those who treat us well. The real point of this journey is to find compassion for those who do not. Not that I mean you condone their actions, but that you don't allow them to affect you deeply. "

Because...

"Those who can, do. Those who can't, criticize."

And this is true.

Because if you truly love yourself and love what you do, you share it. You help others do it. You let others taste that sweet experience. You love it so much, and are so confident in yourself, that you are not intimidated or scared to spread it around... to be a mentor... to teach.

Margot says... "The hell with them. Don't let them get you down. Instead, and you're going to find this annoying I'm quite sure, your best course of action to defeat their mission of misery is to wish them the joy that comes from finally realizing the only person we have to answer to is ourselves. Wish them the joy that comes from realizing that the universe, the is, God, the creative force offers an endless supply of abundance. There isn't just enough, there is an infinite supply of whatever you need. If they want to stand at the well and keep dipping that cup with a hole in it into the water, that is their choice. They'll spend the rest of their lives thirsty and you my fine friend will always be satisfied."

And that, my friends is the more true than you may even realize at this moment.

You CANNOT let them get you down. You CANNOT. It's your duty and your job and your obligation to see to it that you do not become one of them. Or else who will we have left?

So, to the lady who freaked when I was taking my left, I wave. I wave enthusiastically. And I smile. The brightest, biggest smile I can give. Because, as for my driving, I did nothing wrong, and really, neither did she. She just wanted the whole green light to herself.

And, me? I share my green lights.